Deck 26: The Second World War

Question 1

The purpose of the Kellogg-Briand Pact was:

A) to act as a buffer between Germany and France.
B) to allow the people of eastern Europe to achieve self-determination.
C) secure peace by declaring war an international crime.
D) to provide a homeland for the Jewish people in accordance with the Balfour Declaration.
E) to serve as a buffer zone between Germany and Poland.

Answer 1

secure peace by declaring war an international crime.

Question 2

Japan's actions in the Pacific,which led to conflict with the Allies in the Second World War,began with its:

A) attack on the Philippines.
B) seizure of Korea.
C) invasion of Manchuria.
D) creation of an East Asian Sphere of Prosperity.
E) occupation of French-Indo China.

Answer 2

invasion of Manchuria.

Question 3

During the mid-1930s,the Spanish Civil War provided a testing ground for opposing forces in Europe,with the Soviet Union backing the republican government and Nazi Germany backing:

A) King Juan Carlos.
B) Francisco Franco.
C) Federico García Lorca.
D) Pablo Picasso.
E) Joan Miró.

Answer 3

Francisco Franco.

Question 4

To support the Spanish republican government and to protest the German bombing of a Basque town in April 1937,Pablo Picasso painted:

A) Valencia.
B) Andalusia.
C) Stuka.
D) Barcelona.
E) Guernica.

Question 5

Which of the following is considered a crucial quality of Winston Churchill's leadership during the Second World War?

A) His sympathy toward the political motives of his Labor party partners in the coalition government
B) His meticulous attention to the administrative details of running the war effort
C) His extraordinary gift of language, using speeches to inspire courage and defiance
D) His willingness to make important compromises in order to maintain the alliance against the Axis
E) His willingness to compromise with the Nazis to shorten the war and lessen its destruction as much as possible

Question 6

The Second World War began with the German invasion of Poland on:

A) December 7, 1941.
B) September 29, 1938.
C) September 1, 1939.
D) June 6, 1944.
E) July 14, 1940.

Question 7

Several consequences of the Great Depression of the 1930s led to the Second World War.Among these was:

A) an increase in military spending by the United States.
B) a decrease in involvement in the League of Nations by the United States.
C) the decrease in aggressive tendencies by the fascist governments of Europe.
D) an intensification of economic nationalism.
E) the admission of Germany and the Soviet Union to the League of Nations.

Question 8

The effectiveness of the League of Nations was caused in part by:

A) the League's inability to coordinate coherent, international action to limit the effects of the Great Depression.
B) the aggressive stance Britain and France consistently took towards Germany.
C) the League's rejection of the Kellogg-Briand Pact.
D) the absence of crucial nations from its membership, including the Soviet Union and the United States.
E) the moralistic stances it took on international issues.

Question 9

To what does the term Blitzkrieg refer?

A) The meticulous planning of the Germans prior to their withdrawal from the League of Nations and their declaration of war on the Soviet Union
B) The sweeping, meticulous use of German armored vehicles and air power to cut apart slower enemy armies
C) The German methods of strategic bombing, used on Britain in particular, in an effort to bring victory with few German casualties
D) The German plan for "cleansing" eastern Europe of ethnically and politically undesirable populations
E) The new methods of unrestricted submarine warfare, including "wolf packs," designed to starve out Great Britain and the other remainingAllies in 1940

Question 10

How did Neville Chamberlain presume that the Munich agreement would satisfy Hitler's ambitions?

A) By securing an informal agreement with Mussolini to resist Soviet expansion, which he hoped would moderate Hitler's stance
B) By demonstrating that the Western democracies were prepared to go to war to prevent further German aggression
C) By constructing a new system of financial and industrial agreements with Germany to produce economic recovery without rearmament
D) By allowing Hitler to unify all ethnic Germans in one state
E) By allying all of western Europe against the Soviet Union

Question 11

Following the German army's rapid victory in its invasion of Poland,the war entered a stage of inaction,a stage some referred to as a:

A) Phony War.
B) Total War.
C) Blitzkrieg.
D) Cold War.
E) Civil War.

Question 12

Hitler's stated objective in the 1930s was to reunite all ethnic Germans inside his "Third German Reich," and the first move to accomplish this objective was the:

A) reoccupation of the Rhineland.
B) occupation of the "Polish Corridor."
C) annexation of Austria.
D) annexation of the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland.
E) annexation of Alsace-Lorraine.

Question 13

How did Stalin respond to the settlement at Munich?

A) By walking out on a secret Soviet defense pact with France
B) By orchestrating an international organization of communist movements to resist further fascist aggression
C) By moving troops into Poland to guard against a German attack
D) By joining an informal alliance to prevent any further German actions against Czechoslovakia
E) By signing a nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany

Question 14

Due to the memories of World War I,many Western nations were divided in their response to actions taken by fascist and nationalist governments.Some wished to meet such actions with force if necessary,while others wished to negotiate.This second approach is usually referred to as:

A) appeasement.
B) belligerence.
C) coddling.
D) defiance.
E) militancy.

Question 15

After a policy of appeasement failed to curb Hitler's actions on the Continent,the ruling British government was replaced by a coalition under the leadership of:

A) Neville Chamberlain.
B) Winston Churchill.
C) Clement Atlee.
D) George Orwell.
E) Eric Blair.

Question 16

When the war in the West finally did begin in 1940,the Germans nearly destroyed the combined British and French armies,but a great number of the British and French soldiers escaped in a massive evacuation from:

A) Normandy.
B) Dunkirk.
C) Amsterdam.
D) Calais.
E) Dieppe.

Question 17

The Second World War differed from the First World War in many ways that did NOT include:

A) an increase in firepower and mobility.
B) a change of targets to include civilian populations.
C) the improvement of trench warfare.
D) the development of Blitzkrieg warfare.
E) the use of the atomic bomb.

Question 18

How did Nazi efforts to end the Great Depression in Germany contribute to the militarization of Europe?

A) Through French fears of German rearmament, which produced a massive French response in kind
B) Through fears of a potential conflict between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union
C) Through a massive program of rearmament, also intended to reduce unemployment
D) Through a financial crisis triggered by German refusal to continue reparation payments
E) Through the employment of thousands in building a series of defensive forts, the Siegfried Line, along the eastern border of Germany

Question 19

How did France ultimately respond to Germany's stunning early successes in May 1940?

A) The hasty fortification of Paris, followed by a German siege and the ultimate defeat of France
B) Withdrawal of French forces alongside the British at Dunkirk, followed by the creation of a government in exile in London
C) The evacuation of French political leaders, reforming the government in the French provinces of colonial Algeria
D) A rapid surrender after six weeks of fighting, followed by the creation of a neutral, right-wing government in the south of France
E) Immediate surrender and joining the Axis powers with Italy and Japan

Question 20

Although France had been defeated by the Germans,it was allowed to establish a subject government in the south of France under the leadership of First World War hero:

A) General Charles de Gaulle.
B) Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain.
C) Marshal Dail Eireann.
D) General Louis Franchet d'Esperey.
E) Captain Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Question 21

During the German occupation of eastern Europe and the campaign of extermination the most significant resistance took place in the:

A) Prague Ghetto.
B) Budapest Ghetto.
C) Warsaw Ghetto.
D) Leipzig Ghetto.
E) Venice Ghetto.

Question 22

When Germany invaded Russia,following the frontline troops into the country were military squads charged with dealing with undesirable individuals among the conquered peoples.These squads were called:

A) Schutzstaffel.
B) Sturmabteilung.
C) Saalschutz Abteilung.
D) Einsatzgruppen.
E) Totenkopf.

Question 23

Once Hitler had pieced together an empire that stretched across Europe,he declared:

A) "We have forged the foundation for a new Greater German Empire which shall last until the end of time!"
B) "Germans were created to rule the world; we have finally begun to realize our birthright and destiny."
C) "We come as the vanguard of a new Germany which shall rule with fairness and justice."
D) "The world shall learn of the consequences of stabbing Germany in the back."
E) "We come as the heralds of a New Order and a new justice."

Question 24

Although all of western Europe had fallen to German arms by the summer of 1941,Hitler's ultimate goal lay to the east where he next attacked under the code name "Operation:

A) Nibelungenlied."
B) Nevsky."
C) Teuton."
D) Barbarossa."
E) Kasserine."

Question 25

Having defeated the French the previous year,in 1941,Hitler turned his attention to:

A) Britain.
B) Poland.
C) the Balkans.
D) Spain.
E) Scandinavia.

Question 26

As part of their efforts to defeat Germany through "total war," the Allies relied on all of the following EXCEPT:

A) propaganda campaigns.
B) food rationing.
C) the widespread use of poison gas in battles.
D) the use of female and elderly labor.
E) strident appeals to patriotism.

Question 27

To what does the term Untermenschen refer?

A) It is a derogatory term for French soldiers developed after France's rapid defeat in 1940.
B) It is the nickname given by German sailors to those who served on submarines during the war.
C) It refers to the leaders of Nazi Einsatzgruppen assigned to murder or deport Jewish communities or other targeted groups in eastern Europe.
D) It is the formal title for German governors of occupied territories created in the conquered regions of Europe.
E) It refers to the "subhuman" racial categories of Jews, Gypsies, and Slavs marked for murder by Nazi officials in occupied Europe.

Question 28

The laboratory that the U.S.built to develop the atomic bomb was at:

A) the University of Chicago.
B) the California Institute of Technology.
C) Los Alamos, New Mexico.
D) Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
E) Sorbonne.

Question 29

The Soviet Union and Britain invaded a neutral country,_________,in 1941 to prevent Germany from seizing a valuable war resource.

A) Sweden
B) Finland
C) Saudi Arabia
D) Iran
E) Thailand

Question 30

In 1940 the German campaign against Polish Jews:

A) had not yet begun.
B) was conducted only in Warsaw.
C) to one hundred thousand lives.
D) executed nearly a million Jews.
E) was managed by the German Ministry of Racial Purity.

Question 31

The Nazis had little trouble in carrying out their program of extermination of the Jews in Europe since most people in Europe at the time:

A) believed that the Nazi propaganda was an exaggeration and they also simply did not truly believe that mass executions were actually being carried out.
B) knew absolutely nothing of the program as the Nazis had successfully concealed all evidence of the mass executions.
C) saw Jews, because of traditional anti-Semitism and modern, radicalized nationalism, as "foreign" and not as part of their national communities.
D) believed that it was well worth the trade-off of a few "undesirable" lives as opposed to obtaining Nazi protection from communism.
E) were more concerned with the war and their own survival to be concerned with the problems of any minority group.

Question 32

Industrially,the Allies had several advantages over the Axis powers,not the least of which was:

A) a superior work force, which was able to maintain production utilizing eight-hour days throughout the war.
B) of more of their economies more efficiently to war production than any other nations.
C) the altruism shown by industrialists who forswore all profits for the duration of the war.
D) the use of all segments of the population in war work; schools were canceled so that children could work in factories.
E) more modern equipment and factories, since the Germans and Japanese had not been able to rebuild their industry after World War I.

Question 33

Soon after coming to power,the Nazis adopted a policy of Rassenkampf,which dealt with:

A) racial policies to keep German blood pure.
B) labor relations within Germany.
C) educational policies to ensure all Germans received a primary education.
D) providing for universal military service.
E) policies to guarantee that all Germans were physically fit.

Question 34

Which of the following nations saw the spread of popular acts of passive resistance and the covert evacuation of its Jewish population after Nazi occupation?

A) Sweden
B) France
C) Yugoslavia
D) Denmark
E) Switzerland

Question 35

The Second World War began in the Pacific when the Japanese attacked the:

A) United States at Pearl Harbor and the Chinese in Nanjing.
B) United States at Pearl Harbor and the French in Malaya.
C) United States at Pearl Harbor and the British in Indochina.
D) United States at Pearl Harbor.
E) United States at Pearl Harbor and India.

Question 36

Two naval battles of 1942 fought by aircraft operating from each side's carriers,marking the extent of Japanese expansion and the turning point of the war in the Pacific,were:

A) Guadalcanal and Leyte Gulf.
B) Iwo Jima and Saipan.
C) Leyte Gulf and Pearl Harbor.
D) Guam and Manchukuo.
E) Coral Sea and Midway.

Question 37

Early in the war,the British in North Africa,though outnumbered,not only resisted the Italian move against Egypt,but very nearly captured the Italian colony of Libya before being thrown back by the Germans,commanded by:

A) Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.
B) Reichführer Heinrich Himmler.
C) Field Marshall Franz von Papen.
D) Field Marshall Hermann Göring.
E) Field Marshall Friedrich Paulus.

Question 38

Which of the following was NOT a cause of the Second World War's expansion from a European war to a genuinely global conflict?

A) The eruption of conflict between Axis and Allied forces in French and German colonies in Africa
B) Germany's submarine campaign to starve out Great Britain
C) Japan's surprise attack on the Allies in the Pacific and its stunning early success
D) The fighting in North Africa, which threatened the Suez Canal and Allied access to Middle Eastern oil
E) The establishment of an alliance between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan

Question 39

The strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific campaign consisted of attacking strategic Japanese bases was referred to as:

A) "island hopping."
B) "cherry picking."
C) "a turkey shoot."
D) "staying on the beam."
E) "strategic targeting."

Question 40

What description best characterizes the Vichy government's treatment of France's Jewish population?

A) Passive resistance to German efforts at criminalization and deportation
B) Active resistance to deportation but enforcement of anti-Semitic laws
C) A conflict of interest between the revival of French patriotism and anti-Semitic laments in the regime
D) Selective enforcement of racial laws based on political affiliation
E) Selective support of deportation and the passage of sweeping anti-Semitic legislation

Question 41

The first troops to enter and occupy Berlin at the end of the war were:

A) Soviet.
B) British.
C) French.
D) American.
E) Belgian.

Question 42

In the summer of 1943,the largest battle of the Second World War,and perhaps of all history,was fought at:

A) Kasserine.
B) Kursk.
C) Kapek.
D) Dunkirk.
E) Moscow.

Question 43

The League of Nations included all the participants of the First World War,including France,Britain,the United States,Germany,and the Soviet Union.

Question 44

The German panzers,enormous repeat-firing guns,were part of the wave of new technologies Germany brought to war.

Question 45

Hitler turned his attention to Russia in large part because fighting England's R.A.F.proved to be too costly and resulted not in quick victory,but a stalemate.

Question 46

"Island hopping" was a removed,yet brutal,form of warfare in which the American navy destroyed Japan's network of island bases throughout the Pacific by aerial bombings.

Question 47

In 1942 the German invasion of the Soviet Union ground to a halt and was reversed at the battle of:

A) Moscow.
B) Leningrad.
C) Stalingrad.
D) Yekaterinburg.
E) Minsk.

Question 48

The Allies,unlike the Germans,did not target cultural or educational centers,but only bombed those areas of political or industrial power.

Question 49

The most important "second front" opened by the Allies in Europe occurred in June 1944 with the:

A) Allied invasion of Italy.
B) Allied invasion of Norway.
C) U.S. invasion of Algeria.
D) Allied landings in Normandy.
E) start of a massive bombing campaign against German cities.

Question 50

The decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan was taken by President Harry S Truman:

A) against the advice of his senior military advisers, who believed that an invasion of the Japanese home islands would be a more secure way of ending the war.
B) with the full support of his military advisers, scientific advisers, and congressional leaders.
C) for purely political reasons: he knew the Japanese were defeated, and he simply wanted to make a point of U.S. power.
D) against the advice of the Allies, who believed that the Japanese could be forced to surrender by imposing a blockade around the home islands.
E) against the advice of some scientists who had been involved in building the bomb but who believed that its use would set a dangerous precedent.

Question 51

The siege of Leningrad was important not only for its display of Russian tenacity in their ability to hold out for 844 days of battle,but also for turning many of Germany's former allies in the Ukraine against the Nazis in reaction to this effort of "pacification."

Question 52

The German forces in Europe began to retreat toward Germany in the summer of 1944,but in December 1944 they launched a counterattack,known as the battle of _________,which very nearly broke through Allied lines.

A) Waterloo
B) the Bulge
C) Stalingrad
D) the Meuse-Argonne
E) the Somme

Question 53

The effect of the Nazi concentration camps was to render their inmates numb and incapacitated,making them acquiesce to a slow death.Proof of this is found in the complete lack of rebellions in any camp.

Question 54

Which of the following was NOT a major contributing factor to the eventual Soviet victory against Germany?

A) The successes of Blitzkrieg which created extended supply lines
B) Relentless propaganda campaigns designed to convince Germany's allies of the Nazis' unreliability and the hopelessness of their cause
C) The recovery of Soviet industry after the initial German attack
D) The hard blows of the Russian winter against the lives, supplies, and morale of Axis forces unprepared for the bitter weather
E) The willingness of Russian military leaders to sacrifice large numbers of their own soldiers to ultimately defeat the Germans

Question 55

Some of the most significant damage inflicted on the Japanese by the allies came with:

A) the "Doolittle Raid" on Tokyo of 1942 in reprisal for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
B) the shelling of Japanese ports by the United States Navy.
C) the allied counter attacks against Japanese forces In China.
D) the mass firebombing of Japanese cities during the summer of 1945.
E) the naval blockade of the Japanese home island that led to widespread starvation.

Question 56

At the end of the war in Europe,Adolf Hitler:

A) committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin.
B) was captured with his mistress by Soviet soldiers who shot them and hung their bodies in a public square in Stalingrad.
C) managed to escape to Switzerland with his mistress and lived there in relative peace until his death in 1958.
D) was captured and placed on trial for war crimes at Nuremberg with the rest of the Nazi leadership and executed with them in 1946.
E) had been killed early in the war during an Allied bombing raid on Berlin in 1942.

Question 57

Success in the Pacific was an international achievement by troops fighting for the Allies originating from Australia,the United States,Britain,India,and Nepal.

Question 58

In 1943 the Americans helped relieve pressure on the Soviets by leading an attack on the Axis Powers by invading:

A) Sicily.
B) Mallorca.
C) Crete.
D) the Balkan Peninsula.
E) southern France.

Question 59

While the League of Nations was created as a means to eliminate power struggles,it did nothing of the sort.

Question 60

The Second World War was,in essence,just a continuation of the First.

Question 61

Use of the bomb established a new relationship between science and political power.

Question 62

Explain why Japan attacked the United States and what were the consequences in Asia?

Question 63

What role did other European countries play in the persecution of the Jews?

Question 64

What was the "Second Front," and what was its effect on the war?

Question 65

In what ways did the Spanish Civil War foreshadow World War II?

Question 66

After the war,many former colonies found themselves worse off than before,having lost troops and supplies in the support of their colonial powers,and were more dependent than ever on their colonial overlords.

Question 67

Use of the atomic bomb was considered necessary by both senior military and naval commanders who realized Japan would never surrender.

Question 68

What factors combined to change Russian fortunes in the war after 1941?

Question 69

How was the policy of appeasement to blame for many of Hitler's early successes?

Question 70

In what ways was the war between Germany and Russia a war of racial hatred?

Question 71

How did the United States acquire the atomic bomb before the Germans?

Question 72

What factors combined to save Britain from the same fate as the rest of Europe in 1941?

Question 73

How did Germany achieve such a rapid defeat of France in 1940?

Question 74

The Allies launched a successful attack on the Germans in December 1944 that broke the German lines and nearly ended the war,an attack known as the Battle of the Bulge.